This is a project for a few months that involves analysis of data from hydro simulations of clusters. Cool dense gas in the central cooling flow regions of even the most relaxed clusters is often non-hydrostatic, as evidenced, e.g., by the analysis of a cold front in the core of A1795 (Markevitch et al. 2001). Such gas sloshing would result in systematic mass underestimates, if one applies the usual hydrostatic equilibrium assumption. There is a set of simulated clusters with central gas sloshing (Ascasibar & Markevitch 2006) that can be used to determine the severity of such underestimates. Cluster central mass profiles is an interesting probe of the properties of dark matter (e.g., Arabadjis et al. 2002), so the degree of accuracy of this mass determination method is important.


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